Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima is an iconic photograph of six United States Marines raising the U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in the final stages of the Pacific War. Taken
Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, by Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press
Mount Suribachi (pictured in 2001) is the dominant geographical feature of the island of Iwo Jima.
Raising the First Flag on Iwo Jima by SSgt. Louis R. Lowery, USMC, is the most widely circulated photograph of the first flag flown on Mt. Suribachi.[citation needed] Left to right: 1st Lt. Harold Schrier (kneeling behind radioman's legs), Pfc. Raymond Jacobs (radioman reassigned from F Company), Sgt. Henry "Hank" Hansen wearing cap, holding flagstaff with left hand), Platoon Sgt. Ernest "Boots" Thomas (seated), Pvt. Phil Ward (holding lower flagstaff with his right hand),
The flags from the first and second flag-raisings are preserved in the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, Virginia. The second flag, pictured here, was damaged by the high winds at the peak of Suribachi.
Harlon Henry Block was a United States Marine Corps corporal who was killed in action during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.
Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima
…mountaintop had been captured and a smaller flag had been raised that morning. Three of the six Marines in the photograph—Sergeant Michael Strank, Corporal Harlon Block, and Private First Class Franklin Sousley—would be killed in action during the battle; Block was identified as Sergeant Hank Hansen until January 1947…
Marine Corps recruit photo of Block in 1943
Marine Corps photo of the two flags on Mt. Suribachi. Block (backside) is helping to plant the flagstaff he helped raise.
Joe Rosenthal's "Gung Ho" photo. Block's face is hidden, and he is unlabeled, but the top of his head is visible, center, behind Sgt. Henry Hansen, (soft cap)